Dublin set to get new visitor attraction with the proposed opening of a Medicine Museum

Seán McCárthaigh

A new tourist attraction is planned for Dublin with the proposed opening of a museum dedicated to the history of medicine in Ireland.

The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland has applied to Dublin City Council for planning permission for the development of a Medicine Museum at its headquarters on Kildare Street.

The college, which has become a repository for medical artefacts, records and documents over the past 350 years, now hopes to open the proposed museum in the basement of the building.

The RCPI, which was founded in 1653, said it had decided that it wanted to make the college’s exceptional legacy, its global footprint, its modern impact and its ongoing advocacy of the public’s health more accessible to the public at large.

The college said the goals of the museum were for it to “become a centre of excellence for education, research and public engagement with the history of medicine and medical humanities in Ireland.”

The building, which is located close to Dáil Éireann and the National Library, has been home to the RCPI since 1864.

The plans for the new visitor attraction, which are designed by the architectural firm, Scott Tallon Walker, provide for the creation of a new entrance to the Medicine Museum at basement level.

Visitors to the museum will be guided through a total of five different zones in a circular loop of the exhibition space.

One zone will allow visitors to explore the mediaeval and early modern world of physicians and their interactions with barbers, surgeons, apothecaries, midwives and periwig makers.

The displays will also inform the public about the historical approaches of medical practitioners to treatments and sources of herbal medicines and their evolution in the role of the physician over the centuries.

Another area of the museum will highlight the first charter for the college in 1692 as well as items from the collection relating to the founding members and early years of the RCPI.

The various displays and touchscreens will also inform visitors about the evolution of the practice of medicine, training methods and technology more familiar to today’s patients.

People visiting the museum will be brought up to date with the college’s current overseas learner programme and public campaigns, including an interview with the physician who developed the first Covid-19 vaccine.

Dublin City Council welcomed the proposed development and considered it “appropriate and acceptable” in principle, but council planners also sought further information about the project to ensure it was acceptable “in terms of good planning and conservation.”

The RCPI said the opening hours for the museum would be 10am-4pm on Monday-Friday with seasonal weekend opening.

The college said no more than 50 visitors would be allowed entry to the attraction at any one time, but it anticipated such a number would be “the exception, not the norm.”

A decision on the application for planning permission for the new museum is expected in the coming weeks.

The RCPI headquarters, which is a protected structure, is also almost a true replica of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.